04 February 2019
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Quilter has soft launched its new platform this Monday, six years after the beginning of its replatforming project.
This soft launch will see Quilter's staff testing the functionality of the new platform with their own money, ahead of accepting outside funds.
Jeremy Mugridge, Quilter's platform marketing boss, said the soft launch will be a phased approach whereby Quilter staff will try out different features of the new platform such as topping up their ISAs or opening up a new pension. Depending on the results, more and more functionality will be added to the testing process over a few months.
I am pleased that we have reached our soft launch phase which is an important milestone"
Although the soft launch phase includes the majority of functionality needed for the full project, some is still being developed and tested and is not yet ready to be used "live", according to Mugridge.
He did not give a date to when advisers would be able to use the platform because he says it depends on how the soft launch stage goes, but Quilter would not rushing at the expense of quality.
Quilter hopes to avoid the fate of the Aviva and Aegon platforms, which have been haunted by problems since their relaunch last year. Advisers using Aegon reported delays in their clients receiving income, problems with transfers and long delays on the phone.Clients of Aviva reported a delay in receiving tax documents.
"I am pleased that we have reached our soft launch phase which is an important milestone," chief executive Paul Feeney said.
"The high quality delivery of this programme remains of utmost importance to us and we continue to prepare detailed migration plans to ensure customers and advisers remain well supported throughout the transition period," he added.
Since embarking on the project, Quilter dropped the first technology firm tasked with carrying out the work, IFDS, and hired FNZ.
The company wants all IFAs using the platform to be on the new system by the end of 2020
